Abrasive belt



G. WALTERS ABRASIVE BELT March 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1951 lm/enfor Gas #2 v Wa He G. WALTERS ABRASIVE BELT March 23, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 25, 1951 a s r w u, of. 8 7 n n Mm n w n n 1T v 4 Patented Mar. 23, 1954 UNITE- D STATESJ PATENT OFFICE 2,672,715 ABRASIVE BELT GustavWalters, Middletown, Conn. Application April 25,1951, SerialNo. 222,775

This invention relates to improvements in abrasive belts, and more particularly to woven abrasive belts which have an'abrasive such as rouge, emery, etc.,' adhered thereto for abradinguse, such a polishingbufhng, grinding, etc.

Heretofore, abrasive belts which have been made of a woven fabric base or belt having abrasive a-dheredxto such fabric base, have been stifi or board-like and with little or no flexibility,

withthe consequence-that only a very small area of most. shapes of articles to be abraded, can be broughtinto contact with such a belt at any one instant, in consequenceof which there is danger of abrading 'a flat spot abraded, and the time required to properly abrade the surface .ofthe article, is very considerableand often it is impossible to abrade a proper surface 'on thearticle by means of such a belt.

One object of this invention, therefore, is to abrasive belt permitting of on the article being.

this invention is to provide In the description and .claimsvarious parts and steps are. identified by specific terms for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the prior art permits.

In the accompanying drawings formingpart of the present disclosure, in which certain ways of carrying out the invention are shown for illustrative purposes: 1

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating awovenendless belt made in accordance with the present" invention; mounted one. pair of pulleys;

Fig. '2 is an edge viewofthefabricbase belt illustrated ifin.Fig. 1, withoutthe abrasive;

Fig: 3 is a top planview of Fig. 2; Fig. "1: is an enlar fl"4 of Fig.2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged. of Fig.3;

Fig.6

5 and 11 plan "view of the area 5 Fig? '7 is an edge elevation of the abrasive belt ged sectional view on line is a sectionalview on line. 6 6 of Figs."

2 and pulleys of Fig. l, with of an article being abraded;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged schematic transverse sectional view on line 8-43 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is an .enlargedtransverse sectional view. I

of a modified form of belt construction;

Fig. 10 is a view similar modified form of belt construction;

. Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 9, of another modified form of belt construction;

Fig. 12 is a top plan view of a modified wovenl endless tubular fabric comprising a plurality of is to be cut into separate a belt sections, and which belt sections or belts; and.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged transverse sectional view, belt section cut from the of a belt made from a endless fabric of Fig. 12.

In the prior-art textile strands have been woven under relatively high tension, This produces a fabric belt that has considerable crimp "of the longitudinal strands and much stretch and'but little if any crimp of-the transverse strands and little-or no stretch translongitudinally,

versely or widthwise. And when such a belt is .rnounted on a pair of the spacing of the pulleys and the length of the belt for proper belt tension, must be-such that considerable longitudinal the belt is put under tension by the pulleys. This lengthens the belt and removes most of the crimp from the longi- "tudinal strands, and this sion in the transverse nally in them, so that against such a belt to strands than was origiabrade the article, the belt small area of most shapesof articles to beabraded, can be brought into contact with such a belt at any one instant, in consequence of which there is'danger of abrading a fiat spot or multitude of I flatspots on the article being abraded, anclthe" time required to properly abrade the surface of the article is very impossible to abrade a proper surface on the article by means of such a belt.

I have discovered, however, that by having considerable crimp in thetransverse strands. and I but small crimp in the-longitudinalstrands, than; "an abrasive belt is produced which has vastly a broken-line outline to Fig. 9, of another weaving of fabric belts and belting to be used as a base on which to adhere. abrasive to form abrasive belts, the longitudinal been woven underbut little tension, while the transversetextile strandshave pulleys for abrading use,

increased tension on the longitudinal strandsinduces even higher tenwhen an article i pressed is unable to yield substantially in any direction,

but is stiff or, board-like and with little or no flexibility, with the consequence that only a very different and superior characteristics. When such a belt is mounted on the pulleys, it does not lengthen substantially, and therefore does not substantially change the tension of the trans verse strands, and therefore such a belt has great flexibility and elasticity in a transverse or widthwise direction, as will be more fully here-- inafter explained. A way of accomplishing this is by reversing the amounts of the weaving tensions on the longitudinal strands and transverse strands from prior-art practice, so that the longitudinal strands are woven under relatively high tension and the transverse strands under but little tension.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 8 of the drawings showing the form of the invention illustrated therein, the abrasive belt mounted on the pulleys 2 has a woven-endless single-ply fabric base or belt 22, the outer face of which may be referred to as an abrasive-securing face 23, to which a coating of abrasive particles 24 is adhered, usually by a suitable cement such as glue, plastic, or elastomer material such as rubber. When the abrasive employed is very fine like rouge, the belt is often referred to as a polishing or buifing belt, and when the abrasive is substantially coarser, the belt is often referred to as a grinding belt. The term abrasive belt is used herein as a generic term to refer to all such belts, and the generic term abrading may be used herein to refer to all such operations as polishing, buffing, grinding, etc.

The woven-endless fabric base belt 22 is mainly formed or woven of non-endless transverse strands 25 and endless longitudinal strands 2t? woven together. The weave illustrated, is a plain over-one-under-one weave. The tension while weaving, on the longitudinal strands 26 of the belt 22, which as hereinafter explained, are the weft strands as woven in the loom, is preferably as high as they will stand without breaking, and on the transverse strands 25 is preferably as low as feasible or possible.

One way of making woven-endless fabric base belts such as 22 shown in Fig. 2, is to weave such tubing of indefinitely great length in a well known way, and cut it into suitable belt sections such as shown in Fig. 3, and sew the cut nonselvage side edge portions 21 thereof with overcast stitching 28 and/or treat the edge portions 2'! with rubber or other elastomer material, to prevent unraveling. In the weaving of the referred-to tubing of indefinitely great length, the endless strands of the tubing are weft strands, and become the endless longitudinal strands of the finished belts made from the tubing, and the non-endless strands of the tubing are warp strands, and become the non-endless transverse strands of the finished belts.

The term endless longitudinal or weft strand or strands is used herein in its sense as understood by those skilled in the art, that is, that although a weft strand is ordinarily of indefinitely great length except when it breaks during weaving or the weaving of a different size of weft strand is to be started, it is not necessary to have it of indefinitely great length if the picks constituting a weft strand or strands is constituted of weft strands, a majority of which are long enough to form at least three successive picks of the helix in which the weft strand extends in weaving a tubular fabric, so that the tubular fabric will have ample strength along the locations of the beginning and end of the picks. The entire width of the fabric belt 22 including the edge portions 21 in this particular form of the invention, could be referred to as the body portion 29. Or, only the portion between the overcast edge portions 21 could be considered as the body portion.

After the body portion of the fabric belt 22 has had a coating of abrasive adhered thereto and dried, if such an abrasive belt 20 is mounted on the pulleys 2 I, and an article 39 to be abraded, and shown in broken line outline, is pressed against the abrasive belt as shown in Figs. '7 and 8, the main characteristics of this invention will be evident.

From Fig. 6 it will be seen that the longitudinal strands 26 extend substantially straight in the woven fabric, the indentations 3! in the strands 26 being mere indentations pressed therein by the transverse strands 25, but the longitudinal axis of the strands 26 extends substantially straight. By referring to Fig. 8, it is seen that the right and left portions of the woven fabric belt 22 are in their original unstretched condition with the transverse strands 25 in their original highly crimped condition, whereas the center portion of the fabric belt 22 has sunk down under the pressure of the article 38, due to the crimp of the transverse strands 25 readily opening out elastically and permitting the transverse or widthwise stretching of this center portion of the belt fabric 22. The broken lines 26a schematically indicate the locations of the strands 26. And as seen from Fig. 8, this action of the belt not only permits the article 30 to sink well down into it, but by the elasticity of the fabric due to the normal crimped condition of the transverse strands and the high elasticity of the normally substantially straight longitudinal strands 26, causes the abrasive belt with its abrasive to hug a large area of the object being abraded as the belt travels under the article and over the pulleys, thus abrading a large area of the article quickly, and excellently due to the well distributed low unit pressure of the belt on the surface of the article. In other words, as the abrasive belt sweeps along past the article, it very rapidly and gently abrades the surface of the article to give it an excellent uniform finish, and by shifting the article to a few different positions, the entire surface is excellently abraded. Where a non-elastic material like glue is used to hold the abrasive on the fabric base, as the belt passes around the pulleys, and as it stretches Widthwise as described, the glue develops many breaks or cracks but continues to hold the abrasive to the fabric base while permitting the fabric to stretch within the stretchlimitations due to its own fabric-stretch characteristics.

The body portion 32 of the modified single-ply woven-endless fabric base belt 33 of Fig. 9, has the longitudinal strands 34 woven with the transverse strands 35, 36, 31, 38, which transverse strands extend in an overtwounder-two twill-weave.

The body portion 39 of the modified two-ply woven-endless fabric base belt 40 of Fig. 10 has the longitudinal strands 4| and 42 of the respective plies 43 and 44. The longitudinal strands ll are woven with the transverse ply-strands i as, and the longitudinal strands 42 are woven with the transverse ply-strands 41, 48. And the transverse binder strands 49, 50 connect the two plies together.

The body portion 5| of the modified two-ply W v n-endless fabric base belt 52 of Fig. 11 has twill weave transverse ply v with the twill-weave transa l'Ifheilongitud'inalz strands 5 wam YGUV And the longitudinal,

verse ply-strands 61,582 6 3, T6'4.-And thetransm verse binder strands togetheix. i

Figs 12 is a top plan view of a modified form of "woven tubular fabric 66 having-alternate woven-endless body portions 67 each of. a width? to farm theYbody portion of a woven-end1ess fabric hase belt, and mother alternate wovenendless thinner portions 68 which. are to be out along the l'ines-ofcut 18, indicated! 'by broken:

lines, to pi'ovidebelts 69 such as shown in section in Fig; 13K This form of fabric can be woven o-f weave constructions" suchtasthose hereinbefore-v illustrated, or others, as -will be understood by those skilled in the art; The thinner portions 68 "can be woven thinner than theaportions til by having thelongitudihalstrands in-the thinner portions fifil'smaller than. the longitudinal strands in the portions 6 or by having. a lesser 7 number of Dliesin theportionsfisinithe portionsfil; as will be understood by thoseskilled in the art; Having the; portions68 thinner thanw the portions. BT'res-iilts ingreater relative flexibil'ity of th'e portions ease of locking the cut" edges thereof a belt made from the fabric; against unravelingw;

The woven-endlessifabric base belt 69 shown in enlarged section in Fig'i pli has-the wovenendless body portion 61, and twocpposite thin woven-endless edge portions 68a. cut from-the thin portions 68 "(if thertubular fabric (it of Fig. 12' The cut-edge, edgeportions-Minoan be rendered non-raveli-ng bytrubber or other means:

As the terms crimp used herein, they will means the unclulatedform of Qandscrimp-stretch are 68, and therefore greater impregnation" with nowbe definedi- Crimp- 1. a woven strand in 1 a fabric.- The transversestrand iE in Fig; a is shown at itsrightand-left end" undulated and thereioraof high crimp, and the center portion of it is less undulated and therefore 'of less crimp; Crimp-stretchfisdefined: as the change in length of a strand from its-crimped length in the fabric as measured along a straight line parallel to a surface of the fabric when un stretched, to the length of -such-strand after it has been removed from the-fabric and stretched only suiiicientl y to temporarily substantially remove the crimp so the strand is substantially straight.-- '1husif a mark is made on a strand at each of "two pointsfive inches" apart in an un stretched woven ia'bric and then-the strandis unraveled from the fabric and subjected *tb such light tension "as will substantiallystraighten '-thei Shana, and we "findthe twomaikedplaces-"on the strand is now-six inches, then the-erimp-stretch is one inch-Hand the percentage of crimp-stretch is twenty per cent.

it is not necessary to subject a strand to more than three ounces of tension per grain of weight of a yard of a given strand in order to te1nporarily substantially remove the crimp from a strand and substantially straighten it. Strands of cotton, nylon and other textile materials will withstand more than ten times that tension before breaking.

I have found that advantageous results in accordance with the present invention are obtained by having the crimp-stretch of the trans- -that the distance between" (H portionses high-131* versea strands f oi a tired-body {poiztk'iorii more? than; tw'elv a perwcentiandr-morerthan ithe"orimp stretch.1 of the longitudinal stranded and that. it is more advantageous: th atw' the w crimp-stretch. of the transverse:strandsnalsmbemmore than twice the crimp-stretch;oflithelongitudinal-i strands; It is also advantageous that thecrimpi-stretchr of the: longitudinal strands belnless than eleven per cent, and still more advantageousv that it be less than sevenpencentl It is also very advanta geous that-the crimp-stretcher the transverse strandswbe morethan eighteen per cent. and more than: three times the crimp-stretchof the longitudinal strands.

I have also found-rthat-advantageous results i are obtained: by having! the transverse strands of suchisize and number per inch that they cover more than ha-lf of the length-of the: longitudinalstrands along the abrasive-securing face oi the fabric belt-"base, in order to take-any wear; that may result from. articles! which are being abraded, i penetratingbeyond theaabrasiveto the fabric basav thus pretecting nthevital llongitudi-nalstrandswhi'chi supply the longitudinal strength of i the belt, l'fro'm becoming worn: and breaking, Andit gives-even better wearprotection to thelongitudinal strands,-= to have i the transverse strands lcover at least two-thirds, of the length" 01 the longitudinalstrands Thisv protective ac tion is further enhanced by the less thereis of crimp-stretch in the longitudinal strands and by i the morethere is 'of crimp-stretch in the. transverse strands, as each of these-facts tends to cause theupper-surfaces of thelongitudinal strands-Ito he further below the, top surfaces of i i the protective transverse strands. The transverse strandsxalso providamany narrow ehannels. which aid in holding the cement and abra-e sivecoating,-

Thus ,suchibeltsl have a very long life and; @can" have the abrasive coating renewed many times;-

The invention may-1' be carried out in; other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing.- from the spirit and essential character'isticsof theinvention, and-the-present-em-- bodiments-are, therefore,,- to be considered in all respects as illustrative and -not restrictive, and all changes. icomingr-within the meaning and: equivalency rangerof .the appended claims are I intended to be embraced therein.

I claims 1. An abrasive belt-comprising: a fabric base having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing:races:and coating of abrasive adheredto the abrasive-securing *face; the body l portion. having,- nonr-endless 'rt1'a1'1S'VZS8 strands and endless longitudinal strands woven-together; the portions of (transverse-strands in the? -body-= portion:beingaerimpedto have a crimp-stretch of -mora-than twelve percent-and more than the portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than twelve per cent and more than the crimp-stretch of the longitudinal strands, and the transverse strands covering more than half of the length of the longitudinal strands along the abrasive-securing face.

4. An abrasive belt comprising: a fabric base having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face; and a coating of abrasive adhered to the abrasive-securing face; the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than twelve per cent and more than twice the crimp-stretch of the longitudinal strands. I

5. An abrasive belt comprising: a fabric base having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face; and a coating of abrasive adhered to the abrasive-securing face; the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than eighteen per cent and more than three times the crimp-stretch of the longitudinal strands.

6. An abrasive belt comprising: a fabric base having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face; and a coating of abrasive adhered to the abrasive-securing face; the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together;

the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than twice the crimp-stretch of the longitudinal strands, and the transverse strands covering more than half of the length of the face.

7. A fabric base for an abrasive belt and having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasivesecuring face for adhering abrasive thereto, and the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in v the body portion being crimped to have a crimpthe portions of transversewoven together;

9. A fabric base for an abrasivebelt and having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face for adhering abrasive thereto, and the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than twelve per cent and more than the crimp-stretch of the longitudinal strands, and the transverse strands covering more than half of the length of the longitudinal strands along the abrasive-securing face.

10; A fabric base for an abrasive belt and having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face for adhering abrasive thereto, and the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than twelve per cent and more than twice the crimp-stretch longitudinal strands along the abrasive-securing of the longitudinal strands.

11. A fabric base for an abrasive belt and having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face for adhering abrasive thereto, and the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in'the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than eighteen per cent and more than three times the crimpstretch of the longitudinal strands.

12. An abrasive belt comprising: a fabric base having a woven-endless body portion with an abrasive-securing face; and a coating of abrasive adhered to the abrasive-securing face; the body portion having non-endless transverse strands and endless longitudinal strands woven together; the portions of transverse strands in the body portion being crimped to have a crimp-stretch of more than twelve per cent and more than twice the crimp-stretch of the longitudinal strands, and the transverse strands covering more than half of the length of the longitudinal strands along the abrasive-securing face.

I GUSTAV WALTERS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 1 Date 63,341 Traut Mar. 26, 1867 395,720 Starr Jan. 8, 1889 804,514 Wysong Nov. 14, 1905 1,195,036 Lapworth Aug. 15, 1916 1,995,868 Sidebotham Mar. 26, 1935 2,141,396 Levin Dec. 27, 1938 2,157,082 Milnes May 2, 1939 2,270,154, Whittier Jan. 13, 1942 2,288,649 Robie July 7, 1942 2,422,910 Snow et al. July 15, 1947 2,522,774 Fine May 15, 1951 2,570,576 Lord Oct. 9, 1951 

